Adjustable dress-form



(No Model.)

J. HALL.

ADJUSTABLE DRESS FORM.

INVENTUR N. PEYERS. Fhmvu nnnn nnnnnnnnnnnnnnn c.

} as to pass into the slots.

Darren STATES PATENT Orrrcn.

JOHN HALL, OF VATERTOWN, MASSACHUSETTS.

ADJUSTABLE DRESS-FORM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 269,851, dated January 2, 1853.

I Application filed July 2:), 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN HALL, of Watertown, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Adjustable Dress-Forms, of which the following is a specification.

My improvements relate particularly to the waist portion and base or pedestal, and are described in detail below.

In the accompanying drawings, in which similar letters of reference indicate like parts, Figure 1 is a vertical section of my improved dress-form, the skirt portion and that part of the standard supporting the same being removed, and also one side of the waist portion. Fig. 2 is a plan of one of the shoulder-pieces and the collar. Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical section of the shield or socket holding the lower ends of a pair of ribs. Fig. 4 is a vertical section of a bosom-form connected with the waist portion. Fig. 5 is a horizontal section of the same.

A is the standard.

B is the pedestal into which the standard is screwed, and-O O are the legs, two or more of which may be removable in order to facilitate packing the form in a small space. The removable legs G are provided with the upwardcurved projectionsO,oftheshape shown,which pass into slots B in the pedestal and catch or hook onto the hooks B upon the pedestal, at the inner ends of the slots.

0 c are screw-eyes inserted in the legs so To place the leg in position, turn the eye of the screw-eye 0 parallel with the length of the leg, pass the projection 0 through the slot B. and catch it upon the hook B, swing the leg up until the eye of the screw-eye c has passed through said slot, and turn the screw-eye until the eye is across the slot, as in Fig. 1. To remove a leg, reverse the operation.

D D are the waist-ribs,rendered expansible and contractible by meansofthe wire-stretchers E, extending from the plates deach of which surrounds apairofstretchers which are slightly bent at that pointto keep the plates in place to the toothed bars or racks F, the said stretchers haviugtheir inner ends bentinto loops E, as shown, so as to catch in the spaces between the teeth ofthe toothed bars F. These toothed 'bars have their inner ends hinged to the sliding hub to, which is held in position by the rest b upon the standard A. The sliding hub (4 (described in previous patents) is for the general adjustment of the waist, and the stretchers and bars E F for the adjustment of individual ribs or pairs of ribs.

Each pair of ribs D is provided at its lower ends with a shield or socket, G. (See Fig. 3.) One rib is a short one and the other is a longer one, with an upwardly-curving end, D. The socket G is pinched at its lower end upon this end D; but the end of the short rib is free. Hence when the ribs are swung sidewise they are not too stift'and inclined to bind, inasmuch as the short rib is allowed longitudinal play in the socket. Stretchers H are rovided for the side ribs, which hook into holes in the bars I, hinged to the hub c. This stretcher and bar is not new in this invention.

In order to provide for large breasts, forms are provided, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, and one secured to the proper front ribs. These consist ot'a tlat piece or strip of metal, J, provided with slots J, and the two bent holders Kone secured to the strip J and one freesupporting the wires L, of the shape shown. Runners K, secured to the holders L, hold the bosom-form in place upon the ribs D. Aprojection, K, from the free holder K is inserted in one of the slots J--an upper one to produce a large or projecting breast-form or a lower one to produce a small or shallow one.

ff are short bent pieces of wire for preventing the ribs from spreading unequally.

M M are the shoulder-pieces,supported,first, by the connecting-wires N, secured to the under sides and connecting with the ribs D; second, by the wires 0, fixed in the folds m, there being one at each side edge; and, third, by the adjustable shoulder-wires P. The wire 0 connects the shoulder-piece with the wire R, which encircles the standard A, and is held at an unvarying distance above the sliding hub e by the vertical supporting wire S. The adj usting shoulder wire is of the shape shown, and adapted to slide in the folds m by means of the spring T. This spring T connects the shoulderwire P with the side rib, l), at t, is bent into catch shape at t, thereby being adapted to spring into one of the openings in the plate U,

secured to the under side of the shoulderpiece, and is bent into catch shape at t, there by being adapted to limit the extension of the shoulder by striking; the upper end of said plate U. The shoulder is shortened or extended by the action of the spring-catch T upon the shoulder-Wire P.

V is the collar-piece, resting on the shoulderpieces, held in place by the loop which encircles the standard, and caught in front by the hook m or other means.

The skirt portion is made substantially as shown in Letters Patent granted to me July 5, 1881, No. 243,703.

Having thus fully (lesciibed my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a dressforunthe combination, with the socket or shield G, of a pair of wire ribs, in

closed therein at their ends, as shown, one of 20 said ribs having its end curved and fixed therein, and the other having its end shortened and loose therein, for the purpose described.

2. In a (lIGSS'f OHII, the combination, with the pedestal B, provided with the slats Band hooks B, of the legs 0, provided with the projections O and screw-eyes c, constructed and arranged substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. The breast-form consisting of the perforated strip J, the holders K and hook K, and the wires L, all substantially as and for the purpose described.

JOHN HALL.

Witnesses:

NICHOLAS TU'r'rLn, K. A. TUTTLE. 

